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@jolinsdell

Hi, I'm JoWelcome to my little corner of the web.

VIRTUAL COACHING - BOOK COVER DESIGN - CONTENT CREATION - BOOKS

How Can I Help You?

The #1 question everyone wants to know is: What works? What works in marketing? What works to sell more, earn more, and drive more results? Of course, the answer is "it depends". I don't have all the answers, but I'm committed to bringing you the very best whilst keeping it real and honest as I go. What works for one person might not work for another.

The key is discovering what works for you, and I'm here to help you do just that

Let's talk about your project !

What People Are Saying

“Jo is one of those rare writers who really "gets" not only the art of writing but the business and promotional sides as well. In addition to her books and e-books on Italy, she's done a great service for the writing community through her Promo Day efforts, and anyone taking her on in a writing or editorial capacity would certainly benefit from her practical knowledge and experience in that area.”
- Jennifer Mattern, Owner, JH Mattern Communications

“Jo is an energetic, self-motivated and highly organized marketer. She knows how to pull a project together in a timely fashion, putting elements in place ahead of schedule so things come off without a hitch. I value her advice, her writing style and her ideas.”
- Sandy Lender, Author, Editor and Writing Consultant

“I've worked with Jo as a presenter for her Promo Day online conference and partnered with her on a small writers' conference in Rome. This woman is dynamite! She's organized and marketing savvy. She's prompt and personable. How lucky we are that we need no longer be constrained by oceans."
- Carolyn Howard-Johnson, Instructor UCLA Extension Writers' Program, UCLA

From The Blog
Recent Posts

Friday, 10 May 2019

Book bloggers are awesome. These literary lovers help spread the word about the books they read. They spend time crafting book reviews, taking photo's featuring the book covers, and sharing on social media.

Book bloggers are an authors best friend. They are a promotional powerhouse for books, as not only do they go above and beyond to talk about the books they read, but their audiences are listening to them for that purpose. Their followers go to them for reading recommendations, and suggestions. They turn to them for inspiration when they're in a reading slump, and use them to keep up on news of new releases.

Book bloggers bring authors to their target audience.

This is great news for all authors, regardless of how they are published. Even big name publishers send out review copies and ARC's to book bloggers as part of their book marketing plan.

For authors who self publish it can be hard to create a buzz about their new release. They generally can't afford huge promotional campaigns and advertising. This is why finding book bloggers who support indie authors is like hitting gold.

Well, today I'm saving you the time of searching.

I reached out to the book blogging community on Twitter (which is awesome too by the way), and all these wonderful bloggers said they are happy to work with indie authors.

What is a branding photo shoot?A branding photo session is a strategically planned photo shoot.

Why doing a brand photo shoot is a good idea

By doing a brand photo shoot it means you have a supply of professional looking, on brand, images you can use whenever you need one.

Pre-Photo Shoot

Do an audit of what kinds of shots you need and for what purpose. Where do you what to use the photo's? Do you need any specific shoots?

Select your outfit(s). What you wear gives an idea about your brand and personality. Do you want a smart, professional look? or is your brand more friendly and relaxed? What colours look best on you? What colours fit best with your branding?

Practice your poses. If you're not used to having your photo taken, or feel shy about getting in front of the camera it's a good idea to experiment with some poses beforehand.

Be well rested.

Behind the scenes of my brand photo shoot

For my brand photo shoot I decided I would do one photo shoot inside, and another outdoors.

I'm a frugal gal and, as I used to do modeling when I was younger, I opted to DIY my brand photo shoot with the help of my sons. If you don't have experience in photography or modeling, you might want to consider hiring a professional photographer to take the pictures for you. Indoor Photo Shoot

The indoors photo shoot was the most simple to do as I could do it from home. All I needed was my smartphone and my tripod. It also meant that I had plenty of props handy, and outfit changes were easy.

It's a good idea to take a mix of close ups and some wider shoots. The great thing about doing wider shoots is that it means you can create multiple images from the same photo.

This is the same photo from above just positioned differently. In this one I zoomed in closer and used the right side of the wider photo.

You can achieve even more options by adding different filters to the same photo.

Outdoor Photo Shoot

I'm lucky enough to live in Rome, Italy, and so have a wide variety of amazing backdrops to pick from for the location on my outdoors photo shoot. I decided on the Colosseum as it's probably the first landmark that comes to mind when thinking of Rome, or even Italy for that matter.

Having the landmark in the background immediately let's people know where I'm based.

I wanted some more neutral shoots too though. Luckily nearby there's a park with plenty of areas for taking photo's.

What made this photo shoot extra fun was that my photographers were my kids. I have a good idea of what kinds of angles work best, but I decided to let them tell me how to pose for some of the shoots. They also helped suggest places we could try shooting.

I came home with loads of photo's. Some from a distance, some up close. Not all were perfect shoots but they don't need to be.

Then there's the option of editing the photo's to get even more choices for my portfolio. For example, just changing the setting to black and white gives a different look and feel to a photo.

Each photo can also be sized and edited according to the purpose you want to use it for.

Monday, 6 May 2019

My thoughts about The Printed Letter Bookshop by Katherine Reay

Disclosure: I got sent a free copy of this book by the publisher via Net Galley.

Love, friendship, and family find a home at the Printed Letter Bookshop

One of Madeline Cullen's happiest childhood memories is of working with her Aunt Maddie in the quaint and cozy Printed Letter Bookshop. But by the time Madeline inherits the shop nearly twenty years later, family troubles and her own bitter losses have hardened Madeline's heart toward her once-treasured aunt-and the now struggling bookshop left in her care.

While Madeline intends to sell the shop as quickly as possible, the Printed Letter's two employees have other ideas. Reeling from a recent divorce, Janet finds sanctuary within the books and within the decadent window displays she creates. Claire, though quieter than the acerbic Janet, feels equally drawn to the daily rhythms of the shop and its loyal clientele, finding a renewed purpose within its walls. When Madeline's professional life takes an unexpected turn, and when a handsome gardener upends all her preconceived notions, she questions her plans and her heart. She begins to envision a new path for herself and for her aunt's beloved shop-provided the women's best combined efforts are not too little, too late.

The Printed Letter Bookshop is a captivating story of good books, a testament to the beauty of new beginnings, and a sweet reminder of the power of friendship.

Are you a book blogger? Join the Bookish Blog Hops group on Facebook to connect with other book bloggers. A great community offering support and events to help you grow traffic to your book blog and generate more brand awareness.

Wednesday, 24 April 2019

As bloggers our main focus is on creating new content for our blogs, but what about those older posts from our archives?

If you've been blogging for a while you might have hundreds of blog posts in your archives. How do you figure out which ones are worth updating?

A good place to start is by looking at your traffic stats. Posts that bring in the most traffic are a good place to begin. Updating these 'Evergreen' posts will ensure that new visitors to your blog get the best first impression (especially if these posts were from a year or more ago).

Ways To Upgrade Old Blog Posts

Graphics

By updating the graphics on an older post you instantly give it a fresh look. If you use visuals when sharing your posts on social media (which I hope you do), then this is an easy to share the same post again without your followers getting bored of the same old same old. e.g. they might have pinned your old graphic to a board on Pinterest. By giving them a new, fresh, image, they can pin it again to a different board and share your content again with their followers.

Your branding may have changed since you did the original post too, so by updating the graphics you can make sure that your best posts have a consistent look.

You might also want to think about adding additional graphics to the post e.g. if your post only has a horizontal image consider adding a vertical image too. Vertical images work better on Pinterest.

Broken Links

Any blog that has been going for a while is bound to have a broken link or two somewhere.

Broken links are links that do not reach their intended destination. This could be because the page you linked to has been removed. When readers click on a broken link they are most likely to end up seeing a 404 error page. Too many broken links on your website will mean you lose credibility.

Broken links also have a negative effect on your website ranking.

Add Keywords

Keywords are incredibly important for SEO. Make sure you've added a meta description to the post, and used your keywords in your posts title and content.

Reworking your posts title can be a great way to increase traffic to an older blog post. If your original post had a random title like "Recent Musings" it's not doing anything for your SEO. Change the title to something that includes your keywords and makes people want to read your post.

Additional Links

Since writing the original blog post you may have written more blog posts related to the topic. Add your newer links to the older blog post. A simple way to do this is by adding the text "You might also like: INSERT LINK HERE'.

Content

Typo's happen to the best of us. Run your old blog post through a spell checker or a site like Grammarly to make sure no mistakes got through.

If you find that a lot of changes need to be made to the content (e.g. due to outdated information), then you might want to consider deleting the post and creating a new one instead.

About Me

I want to help you. My work (and this site) is devoted to sharing ideas, tools, and resources that will help you reach your goals, and create a better product/brand. Whether you're a self published author or a blogger, I'm here to help you through virtual coaching, book cover design, articles, and books.
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If you're searching for a reputable writer with a proven track record to produce top-quality articles for your blog and/or publication that can boost traffic and secure more customers, you’re in the right place.